Annual Swedish Airforce day, held at F17 Kallinge this year.
About 50+ civilians (+ about 40 000 more who came by car and buss etc) flew there in their small planes, I was one of them (acting co-pilot). Everybody who flew there had to participate in a so called "arrival contest".
Rules were, that at a specific time, you were to pass above a church in a small town a few kilometers away from the field, this was to make sure all planes didn't come at once, every plane/pilot had their own time. Our time was 09.39:00.
The three best times won a ride in a 4 seat SK60. The SK60 is the Swedish airforces school plane. It is also an attack plane however it is not used for any sort of attack or combat role anymore, stricly training. They've all got newly installed engines and the top speed is a bit more then 600km/h.
Me and my pilot won the contest, we arrived exactly 09.39:00 (
), number 2 and 3 both came +2 seconds on their time so they got to split the second place. My pilot gave the SK60 spot to me as he had flown them lots before, aswell as the Lansen back when he was a fighter pilot. He recently retired from commercial flying with between 18 000 and 20 000 flight hours behind him.
Of course, as #1 I got to sit in the front and fly aswell
Anyway, here are some pictures, starting with the ones of me and the SK60.
It's me waving my hand.
Getting ready.
Waiting.
Stepping in.
Ready to go.
Taxing out!
Happy!
No pictures of the actual flight, the plane took off a bit too far away from the stop plate.
I can tell ya this, it was one hell of a fun ride! Very nice to get to fly a Jet, very VERY easy specially compared to a Glider where one has to work the rudders. No need for rudders at all in Jets. Above 300km/h in the SK60 the plane flew completely "clean" without using the rudders in rolls and turns. The elevator got very heavy when pulling 4G's in 600Km/h as there were no hydralics for the elevator, only the ailerons.
